My (Twitter) reactions to the first episodes of the Winter 2018 season

January 20, 2018

As before I'm collecting here all of my
tweeted reactions to the first episodes I've seen (in the order that I
saw them).

Laid-Back Camp episode 1: That was laid back and charming, plus it
had bicycles. Unfortunately I may get tired of the genki maniac girl,
which is a pity since the show seems pretty well directed. #yurucamp
♯

Devilman Crybaby episode 1: It's going somewhere and it's not the
personal turn-off I sort of expected from initial commentary. It is
very over the top, but I guess that's Go Nagai for you. The man doesn't
go small.
→

Violet Evergarden episode 1 was interesting, intriguing, and very
pretty (of course). But it was all introduction and setup and as such
says very little about what the show will be like in the long run,
although it did persuade me to watch the next episode.
♯

Darling in the FranXX episode 1: That was a solid introductory episode,
even if it was a bit narration heavy. But as usual it doesn't say much
about what further episodes will be like; it's just doing a good job
of selling us the show's basic premise.
♯

Beatless episode 1: That was flavourlessly generic, with only an
occasional flash of anything particularly interesting. Nothing stands
out and I have no interest in more.
#

Maerchen Maedchen episode 1: This was popcorn but decently fun and
amusing popcorn. It's good enough to entice me into watching the next
episode, at least.
♯

Katana Maidens - Toji no Miko episode 1: That was a quite snappy and
interesting first episode, with surprisingly excellent fight scenes
and an intriguing setup and more showing than telling.
→

I took a brief run at watching the widely acclaimed A Place Further
Than the Universe (aka the 'going to Antarctica' show) but didn't feel
like watching more than a few minutes of the start, so I've tentatively
concluded that it's not for me even though it's clearly very well made.
This is not very surprising; I'm almost entirely burned out on watching
high school teens in ordinary life.

I may at some point look at Hakumei and Mikochi, but it doesn't seem
compelling based on current descriptions. Perhaps I will look at Pop
Team Epic briefly just to experience it a bit, but I can't imagine
watching even an entire episode much less the entire show.